The Mirror in your Eyes
by Mia-Zeklos
Summary: Narcissa Black is hiding something. She's not the person everyone thinks she is. And Lucius is determined to find out the real Narcissa. The second fic written for opaque-girl's 'The Originality In Your Favorite Pairing' Challenge on the Harry Potter Challenges Forum.


_The second of my three fics, written for opaque-girl's 'The Originality In Your Favorite Pairing' Challenge. And here's the next situation: "The Black family has a secret - a secret which has been underlying with them since many years. Narcissa isn't their own child - instead, she is a bastard child her mother had. A fic depicting a bitter Narcissa, who is snarky and insults everyone at Hogwarts, as a shield to protect herself."_

**Author's notes: I'm surprisingly satisfied with this one – even though it's not exactly what's expected from me, probably. It seemed right to me to make Lucius the narrator – I wanted to show her from a different point of view, not her own. It's the way I thought it should be and… well. I hope that the original idea was visible in her words and all of that. Anyway, please tell me what you people think, because I'm not sure it's good. I'm not sure at all.**

"No, Meliora. I cannot help you, and, which is more important right now, I don't want to. Can't you see that I have work to do?" her voice was sharp and harsh. Meliora sank back in her armchair, looking up at her classmate with watery eyes.

"I'm sorry, Cissy. I didn't want to upset you." The girl whispered.

"Can't you be just a bit nicer? She did nothing bad to you!" Lucius said before he could stop himself. The blonde in the sofa raised her head from the Defense Against the Dark Arts essay she was writing and eyed him with disbelief.

"No, Malfoy. I _really_have to study right now, and she was distracting me. I know that she's your sister and all, but go and be nice to her if you want to. Don't waste _my_time." She was talking to him slowly, as if he couldn't get what she was saying. Lucius felt anger rising somewhere inside him, but he just took a deep breath and left her.

"I told you that you should give up, Lucius."

"I can't!" Lucius said, sitting back to Rabastan Lestrange who had seen the whole scene. "I just can't and I have no idea why! She's being an awful – well, let's be honest – bitch to everyone and I still can't manage to hate her or even to dislike her. I just… I think I have to do something for her…"

"She hates you with passion." Rabastan said airily. "Why do you think she would ever pay any attention to you? And plus, Lucius, seriously. You're following her everywhere. You see how bad she treats you and everyone else and you keep doing it. This is really unhealthy, mate."

"Shut up, Rabastan." Lucius snarled. Rab shrugged and stood up from his chair. Lucius didn't notice him, though; his eyes were already staring unblinkingly at Narcissa Black again.

He knew that his friend was right. Lucius had no reason to want to have anything to do with her at all. She was awful, rude, and talking to him as if he was a scum. Any other girl – actually, any other _person_at all – would be already be dead for telling him 'Get out of my way, you stupid little prick.' But instead of answering to her with something rude enough in return, he had stupidly moved and let her pass beside him.

He was such an idiot.

He had no idea why he still had any feelings for her at all – if that was what it was called when his brain seemed to leave him alone to his fate every time he met her. It was maybe because of this absurd, irrational belief that she needed someone to trust and nothing else. Sometimes he thought that he would be able to change Narcissa Black – something that nobody else managed to do.

"It's your own problem after all, Lucius." Rabastan told him and saved him from his thoughts. "But I still have to tell you. She. Is. Not. Interested."

"I'm just concerned." The other boy said, hesitating if he should admit what exactly he felt like. It was probably a bad idea. "She's, well… you should know. _You're_her friend after all." Rabastan was indeed Narcissa's best – and most likely only real – friend. He nodded positively.

"I do. No offence, Lucius, but why do you care how she feels? You have hardly ever talked to her." He pointed out. That was actually true. For five years or so, Lucius hadn't had a decent conversation with her at all. But still.

"I don't know why." He said again, sounding almost desperate even to himself. "There's just something different in her. She's actually a really nice person… I just know it. Somewhere deep inside, she's great. But she just needs someone to help her realize it, that's it and… why not me?"

Rabastan shook his head, but said nothing and left the common room. They've had this talk a million times all over these years and none of them could win the argument. Probably Rabastan was right, because he knew Narcissa better. And yet, even knowing that, Lucius kept staring at the blonde witch stubbornly. He just _had_to find out.

He got up from his chair determinedly and approached her. He knew it was a bad idea to interrupt her for the second time during doing her homework today – the last guy who had annoyed her for long enough was still in the hospital wing – but it was now or never. He would dare to ask her now or he would never do it at all.

"Hey, Black…"

"Narcissa." She snapped, looking up at him from her place on the sofa, then looking back at the piece of parchment she had placed on her knees.

"W-what?" he asked, surprised.

"If you're going to talk to me at all, call me Narcissa." She explained. Now that she wasn't being _that_ ruthless, she sounded almost as any other girl. "Or Cissy. Anything but Black, really." she said, almost hysterically. Lucius raised his eyebrows, and then sat next to her slowly, as if he was dealing with an angry animal or something like that.

"Why not Black?" he asked curiously – most of the people would be proud to be the heir of such a famous pureblood family.. She rolled her eyes dangerously.

"Because I'm tired of people talking to just the next Black girl." There was something that left untold and Lucius knew that, but she continued. "If you should bother me with your presence at all, at least talk to me as a person, alright?"

"Alright, alright. I got it. I was just wondering if you'd mind if I come with you and Rabastan in Hogsmeade next Saturday." he said; luckily enough, his voice sounded confident and almost as a statement and not a question. He wasn't weak. Even Narcissa Black wouldn't make him feel weak. Even if she was giving him death glares all the time.

Narcissa looked at him apprehensively, and he looked at her in return. _Damn, she's beautiful,_Lucius thought for Merlin knows which time and sighed mentally. He couldn't believe that someone with such looks could be actually an evil person. These ocean blue eyes – so deep that he felt like he could drown in them easily – couldn't say anything bad to him, no matter that their owner was indeed saying some pretty nasty stuff.

_Stop staring at her, you imbecile!_

"You know." He added awkwardly. "Because he's my friend too and I promised him that… I'll help him find, err, some stuff he needed for his next painting." Rabastan was actually a great artist in his free time; almost every Slytherin knew that. "And I really hoped you wouldn't mind."

"And what if I _do_mind?" Narcissa asked, scowling at him and then lying down on the sofa, barely leaving any space for him to sit on. "I don't really fancy sharing a walk in Hogsmeade with you, Malfoy. And plus, I can help Rab too."

Was there a hint of jealousy in her voice, or it was just Lucius imagining things? Only one way to find out. Probably a painful one, but still, he had to ask.

"Is it… you know, are you on a date… or something? Because if you are, I won't mind going with you the next time." He assured her. Narcissa's eyes started sparkling dangerously at him as she suddenly sat up on the sofa and then locked her gaze with his. He was stunned when he realized that she was almost crying.

"It's not something you have to do with, Malfoy." She hissed and then stood up, took her essay, wand and schoolbag with her, running up the stairs to her dormitory. "Yes, you can come if you want. I don't care anyway."

And she slammed the door behind her back.

"Anything went wrong? _Everything_went wrong?" Rabastan asked with a slight smile on his lips. Lucius understood why his friend would be happy if he failed; obviously there was something going on between them two.

"Well, you seem all too content about it." he sneered. "I wonder why?"

"Because you'd finally give up!" Rab almost shouted it at him in desperation. "I already told you that I don't care and its' your own problem, but… Dear Lord, mate, you don't know what she's been through. Actually, neither do I, but please, leave her alone. For everyone's good, leave her alone, Lucius." He whispered. "Cissy is a… complicated girl. You don't know anything about her. Why do you want to be around her at all?"

_Because I see the fire in her eyes when I talk to her. Because I_want_to know what she's been through and I want to change her and see what kind of person she actually is. And because for some reason, she's the only one who can make me feel so alive – she's the only one who would ever say 'no' to me. And that means that I want to see her soul and her heart. I want_ her_to see mine. I can see myself in her eyes and I want to know if she can see the same in me._

"I told you, I'm just curious."

o.O.o

He hadn't seen her in almost a week. Narcissa hadn't come with Rabastan and him in Hogsmeade; she had told her friend that she was feeling sick, but Lucius knew the truth. She didn't want to talk to him.

Narcissa Black wasn't exactly the girl that would get upset from such a simple question as the one if she's going on a date. Actually, she wasn't getting upset from anything. She was the one who was being rude to the other. Ever since Lucius knew her, she was never getting in trouble, but somehow, she always ended up making anyone cry. Insulted somebody or made them feel bad. That was why Lucius thought all this was just a cover for something else that lied deep inside. Because she wasn't really mean. She just seemed like she was always angry. There was something bitter in the way she talked. Something strange that made her different from all the other people who liked to mock those who were under their place in the society. Narcissa wasn't enjoying other people's pain. She just… wanted to protect herself from the world.

"May I help?" Lucius asked quietly. It was the end of April and he could see that she was getting ready for her OWLs. Narcissa looked at him skeptically.

"Why would I need your help, Malfoy?" she asked in her usual manner, but he didn't pay attention.

"I'm a sixth-year." He reasoned. "I've been through all of this madness last year and… Well, I know how hard it is. You're under pressure and all. So I thought I could help you." Merlin, if she only knew how lucky she was! He was never going to waste his time and making a fool of himself like that for any other girl. Actually, he wasn't sure anymore that it mattered if he did anything to impress this _exact_girl.

"No, I meant, what do you get from helping me?" she asked, obviously only half of her attention on the conversation as she was making some notes for her Charms OWL. Lucius felt impatience raising its head in him until he couldn't hold it anymore.

"What the hell had happened to you?" he exclaimed. Narcissa's eyes widened in shock. "Who made something so bad to you that made you believe people can't do good things just for the sake of doing something good? Why can't you just accept it when someone offers you help? Can't you see? There are people who would like to be around you. My sister, for example, says it would be nice if she can hang out with you sometimes! But all you do is ignoring the ones who actually like you!"

At first, Lucius was sure she was going to slap him. But then something in her expression became softer and she nodded slowly.

"Well, then." She said mockingly, grimacing in something slightly reminding of a smile and then looking back into her schedule. "At least someone who dares to talk to me like that."

Was that all she was about to say in response to his speech? Lucius pursed his lips. No. He came this far, he wasn't going to give up now. He put a huge, humorously fake smile on his lips and shook her hand, taking hers into his.

"Well, what say you and I begin with all this again?" maybe something was wrong with her past, but he could change her. He knew that. Even if he had to act as if he's seven-year-old. "Hello, fair lady. I'm Lucius Malfoy. Nice to meet you. Do you want to be my friend?"

Narcissa sighed desperately. Maybe finally she had realized that she wouldn't get away from him so easily.

"Hello." She said and her voice told him that she still wasn't taking him seriously. But at least, she hadn't slapped him. Nor hexed him. And that was something good to start with. "Narcissa Black. I guess it's nice to meet you too." It didn't sound like that, though.

"Well, Miss Black…"

"No. Not Black." she said with a slight smile he hadn't seen on her face ever before. It wasn't exactly a real smile, because it was quite sad, but she shook his hand too. "Just Narcissa."


End file.
